Budget Deal Includes Money for High-Speed Rail, In-Home Care
State lawmakers will hold a rare Sunday session this weekend to send a new budget to Gov. Jerry Brown before the constitutional deadline. Brown's most controversial proposal was using $250 million from California's new cap-and-trade program to fund high-speed rail. The governor will get that money. Democrats in the Assembly and Senate had made health and welfare spending a big priority, and were determined to push back against Brown's frugal budget plan. Brown conceded to drop a plan capping the hours the state will pay for people who provide in-home care for the disabled.
Covered CA Outreach Effort Enrolls Majority of CSU Uninsured
One big open question during the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act was whether enough young, healthy people would sign up to counter balance all the older, sicker people rushing onto coverage rolls. State officials funded an exploratory outreach effort targeted at 100,000 uninsured Cal State students, and won over more than half of them.
FDA Prioritizes Research Into Mysterious Valley Fever
The Food and Drug Administration has added valley fever to a priority list that should give a boost to researchers fighting the mysterious fungal disease. Since valley fever isn't a nationwide problem, it's gotten little federal attention, and that's been frustrating to Central Valley health officials.